August « 2010 « Food & Recipes

Tacos!

By Midlife Army Wife, on August 24th, 2010

We had some friends over for dinner last night and served one of our favorite meals….Tacos! I love this meal when we have company for several reasons.

1) Each person can personalize their food with the toppings they choose. Don’t like tomatoes? Just leave them off. LOVE olives? Load ‘em up! Going carb-free? Leave off the shell and make a taco salad. Vegetarian? Throw on extra beans instead of the meat.

2) It’s easy to prepare ahead of time. You can cook the ground beef, season it, and store in the fridge for a couple days or freeze if you need to make it way ahead of time. Same goes for spanish rice if you choose to offer it. Cut up lettuce, tomatoes, olives, onions – all store well in baggies or tupperware containers. Grated cheese is something we always have on hand. Sour cream and salsa can just sit in the fridge in their original containers until you are ready. Refried beans? We love Amy’s refried black beans! Just open the can, put in a glass bowl and microwave till warm. Chips or taco shells can sit in the pantry for a few days if you don’t always keep them on hand.

3) Leftovers never get wasted! We eat lots and lots of salads around here, and every single ingredient that we serve with tacos is something that will get eaten by us if leftover.

Oh, and those “Stand n Stuff” taco shells? Genius!

What is your favorite “simple” meal to serve company?

Anyone remember the “Choco Taco”? This thing?

Popcorn Perfection

By Midlife Army Wife, on August 13th, 2010

Yesterday, I had a meeting to go to that took me just a couple blocks away from a very dangerous place. A place that could seriously affect my budget, and my health. A cute little popcorn store that sells gourmet popcorn.

They have a combination I like to call “Bliss” – a mixture of White Cheddar & Caramel popcorn mixed together. You can have a bite of sweet. You can have a bite of salty. Or, you can get crazy and put them both in your mouth at the same time for a moment of pure bliss. MMMM!

Dangerous I tell you! I bought a medium size bag to bring home to the family, and a “mini” bag to take with me to the meeting. I did offer to share, and a few took me up on it, but I’m still sure I managed to eat at least half the mini all by myself. I enjoyed every single bite, too!

I also just noticed on the website that they have a dark chocolate popcorn. I never noticed that in the store before. Guess I’ll have to go back

Watermelon Banana Split

By Midlife Army Wife, on August 9th, 2010

One of our favorite things about summer is enjoying sweet, juicy watermelon! This summer, we made a new twist on an old favorite. It’s tasty enough to be a treat, and healthy enough to have for breakfast!

Servings: We made this for 3 people, but there was plenty of everything to make twice that many as long as you have more bananas!

Difficulty: Super Easy!

Prep Time Needed: 10 minutes for chopping fruit

Cook Time Needed: None!

Ingredients:

3 bananas

Medium sized watermelon sliced in half (you will at least need a large piece a few inches thick for making the scoops)

1 cup diced fresh blueberries

1 cup diced fresh strawberries

1 cup diced pineapple (fresh or canned)

3 TB strawberry all-fruit preserves, heated

1 cup your preferred yogurt (we use plain, nonfat yogurt and sweeten with honey or applesauce)

1/2 cup grated unsweetened coconut

Directions:

1. Slice bananas lengthwise and place in bowl.

2. Using an ice cream ball scoop, top bananas with 3 scoops of watermelon.

3. Top one scoop with pineapple,

one with strawberries,

and one with blueberries!

4. Drizzle with yogurt

5. Drizzle with warmed preserves

6. Sprinkle coconut on top

7. ENJOY!

Banana Cookies

By Midlife Army Wife, on August 7th, 2010

This recipe is so easy, the kids can make it! Just make sure a grownup puts them in and takes them out of the oven!

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas

2 cups rolled oats (not quick cooking) **Use certified Gluten Free, if needed**

1 cup dates, pitted & chopped (may substitute raisins, dried cranberries, or any dried fruit)

1/3 cup applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1/2 cup unsweetened grated coconut (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Add the oats, dates, applesauce, vanilla, cinnamon, nuts & coconut. Mix well. Drop by spoonfuls on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

**NOTE** These cookies will come out of the oven the same shape they go in. If you want a flatter cookie you may press down before baking, or form them into bar shapes.

3. Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly brown.

Muffin Tin Meals

By Midlife Army Wife, on August 7th, 2010

This isn’t a unique idea, but I wanted to share it anyway since I’ve been using it for quite a while. I had seen it on several blogs & in magazines and thought it was a cute idea.

My daughter LOVES samples, and will eat almost anything on a toothpick. Often she even requests for me to make her a “sample lunch” (lots of bite size items and toothpicks for utensils). So, when I saw this idea, I knew she would love it!

Turns out, I love it too! In fact, I now do it at least twice a week. I love it even more when our house is full of kids, because I like to keep lunches simple, healthy, and interesting. I line up the muffin tins and in pure assembly-line style, prepare lunch for everyone. Grapes…some here, some here, some here, some there. Cut up cheese….same routine. And on it goes.

If I include sandwiches, I only have to make 1 or 2 because everyone just gets part of one. If I heat something up, I just heat up one bowl and everyone gets a small serving in one of the tins. That’s another bonus for anyone paying attention to portion sizes – each muffin tin is approx. 1/2 cup. Good way to make sure they get their fruits & veggies if that’s a problem in your house.

It’s also a great way to use up leftovers! No wasting that last bit of food. That’s the frugal side of me talking, because I can’t stand to waste food, but sometimes there just isn’t enough for a full serving for everyone.

You can Google “muffin tin meals” and get a tons of ideas, but here are a few of my examples:

“Letter D Week”: Cheese cut with the letter D cookie cutter, Dates, apples & carrots with Dips (PB and ranch)

From top-left: Apples, ranch dressing, quiche muffins, peanut butter, celery, carrots

These had frozen peas (my kids love them), apples, 1 gumdrop (made with natural coloring!), cheese & crackers, & 2 spots of plain yogurt w/applesauce mixed in.

From top-left: apples, cheese, candied ginger, homemade jello (gelatin & no-sugar-added juice), crackers, & hummus

From top-left: a piece of whole wheat biscotti, green bean casserole, chicken breast, grapes, veggies, ranch dressing

Another take on the idea for snack time: peanuts, raisins, & mini PB crackers.

Another reason I love it is because it makes my daughter do fun, creative things like dip her grapes in ranch dressing (ewww!), or make a “sandwich” with celery, carrot, green pea, and a piece of chicken. LOL